


I Think We Should Run

by phenomenology



Series: Kanera Week [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kanera Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 10:11:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6280447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phenomenology/pseuds/phenomenology
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanera Week Day Four: prompt - escape<br/>A mission gone slightly wrong leads to flashbacks and promises. (aka this piece was written in less than half hour, was not beta read, and I feel like shit so here and maybe one day I'll fix it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Think We Should Run

“Well this mission was a spectacular failure!” Kanan called to Hera over the cacophony of blaster fire. They dashed down the long hanger, side by side, trying to make it to the Ghost before the troopers – or the blaster bolts – caught up to them.

“That’s an understatement!” Hera called back sarcastically, earning a cheeky smirk from Kanan as he ducked, sensing a bolt about to fly over his head. He glanced back, wondering if the situation was desperate enough for him to pull out his trump card.

It had only been a simple milk run – get in, get the fuel and supplies, get out. But security had been tighter than anticipated, and Hera and Kanan were forced to make a break for it. Now they were fleeing with only half the supplies and two of the eight fuel canisters they had intended to grab. And they were being pursued by anger stormtroopers.

Perfect.

“Let’s just hope Spectre 3 is ready to go!” Hera continued, twisting as she ran to shoot back at the troopers. “If he isn’t, then we’re going to need a backup plan!”

Kanan opened his mouth to respond, when he felt a sudden, harsh tug through the Force. It pulled his gaze over to Hera, warning bells and alarms drowning out everything else. Kanan felt his heartbeat stop for a moment, dropping a heavy stone into his gut. The Force was calling out to him, desperately trying to tell him, _SAVE HER._

Moving on instinct, Kanan dove sideways, grabbing Hera and pushing her out of the way. As they went down, the tension he had felt in the Force released, but pain flared in his left shoulder, shooting down his arm and causing him to cry out. He and Hera tumbled to floor, a mess of flailing limbs. Hera was the first to recover, scrabbling to her feet and glancing back at Kanan.

It took Kanan a moment to catch his breath, and then he was hauling himself to his feet and stumbling after Hera as she made a break for the Ghost. The ship seemed so much farther away than it had a moment ago. But Kanan’s mind was half addled with pain, making everything around him a little harder to perceive. He could however, very clearly see Hera defending the ramp of the ship, gesturing frantically at him. Her lips were moving – probably shouting at him to hurry up – and he knew that he needed to hurry.

Stumbling aboard the ship, Kanan had to try very hard not to trip up the ramp. He could feel the pain radiating across his shoulders and down into his left arm now, dulling his other senses. He was vaguely angry with himself for being so careless, but mutually relieved that it had been him instead of Hera. Where the bolt hit him on the shoulder, it would have hit her on the back of the head.

Once he was up the ramp and safely in the cargo hold, Kanan’s knees promptly buckled and sent him collapsing to the floor. Everything hurt, his upper torso flushed with pain at this point. For some reason his breath kept hitching on it’s way out – probably his body going into shock, he thought vaguely. The blaster bolt had been a surprise; he was just following the Force and protecting Hera. He hadn’t known what from at the moment he dove, but now he was still grateful it hadn’t hit her. The pain was unbearable and –

“Kanan!” Hera’s hands were suddenly gripping his good arm, her voice cutting through the haze in his mind. She was staring down at him, worry creasing lines into her face as her lips moved quickly, forming words that he couldn’t understand through the shock taking hold of his body.

“S-Sho…ck,” he tried to tell her, voice rasping in his throat. “Hera…’m in sho…ck,” he gasped, watching her face as she finally got the message. Her worry shifted into panic and then hardened into determination. She turned her head and barked an order. Kanan vaguely wondered if Chopper would actually listen to her. He knew the droid didn’t like him very much.

 _Well that was a lame last thought,_ Kanan pondered bitterly before passing out. 

* * *

Kanan awoke to silence; so he wondered if he even was awake. Then again was he even alive?

As the memories came flooding back to him, Kanan remember taking a shot for Hera, and then promptly going into shock and passing out once they were aboard the Ghost. Deciding that he could not be dead – because there was no way being dead hurt this much – Kanan shifted, wincing slightly at the flare of pain in his shoulder. A quick look around told Kanan that he was in his bunk, the lights dimmed to their lowest setting and his wound treated.

There was an inexplicable weight on the blanket he was under down by his hip. Craning his neck to the side and looking, Kanan found Hera, sitting on the floor and slumped over against the bunk. Her head was resting atop her folded arms and she was sound asleep. He smiled softly and decided to leave her there.

For some reason, being shot in the shoulder had whisked Kanan back to his time as a Padawan in the Clone War. Images of his friends, his master, the Jedi Order, everything, started whirling in front of his eyes. Closing his eyes didn’t help either, as they just continued to spin circles around his mind’s eye.

He must have shifted because next thing he knew, Hera’s hand was covering his and she said his name softly.

“Kanan?” He looked down at her and tried to hide the pain he was feeling. And it had nothing to do with his wound. “Are you alright? What’s the matter?” Of course she knew him that well.

“It’s nothing,” he murmured. “Just…memories. Flashbacks. I’m okay?”

Hera gave him a skeptical look and squeezed his fingers gently. Kanan knew from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t buying his excuses. He could also vaguely sense waves of hurt at what she perceived to be a lack of trust in her. Kanan sighed and looked down at their hands instead of Hera’s eye.

“Just…” Kanan started, not entirely sure why he was caving and talking about this. “I started thinking about everything that happened in the Clone War. I saw my master, the other Jedi…everything I did all just flashing in front of my eyes.”

Kanan had told Hera a while ago that he had fought in the Clone War, that he had been apprenticed to a master and was training to become a Jedi Knight. He had not, however, told her everything that had happened during the war, or that his real name wasn’t Kanan. 

As far as Kanan Jarrus was concerned, Caleb Dume had died with Depa Billaba all those years ago.

Kanan was pulled back from his thoughts when Hera shifted on the floor, moving to get up. Hera crawled up into bed beside Kanan, wrapping herself around him gingerly. They lay there silently together for a few moments, comfortable in each other’s presence.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Hera eventually murmured, her voice soft and her breath warm against his chest. The question hung in the air between them, making Kanan shift with nerves.

“I didn’t know how to,” Kanan eventually answered. Knowing it was a lame excuse, he continued a moment later. “For the longest time, I couldn’t escape my past. So when I finally felt like I had, I completely left it behind. No one knew who I used to be, and that was how I wanted it to stay.”

“Understandable,” Hera murmured. “But…did you feel like you couldn’t trust me? I wouldn’t have said anything, and I could have helped you.” There was a slight tremor to her voice, making Kanan realize how shaken up she was by what had happened. He gave her shoulder a firm, reassuring squeeze and let out a tight sigh.

“I trust you with my life, Hera,” he said, voice gentle. “And that’s just it. That past…who I was…that’s not my life anymore.”

Hera was quiet for a while, leaving Kanan to try and judge her reaction. He couldn’t see her expression in this position, and her signature was fairly steady, almost neutral. He wasn’t used to this, so he didn’t know if this was good or bad. 

“I believe you,” she said softly, after what felt like years of silence. “But I still want you to come talk to me when you’re feeling like the past is creeping up on you, okay?” Hera arched her neck back so she could look at Kanan. “Do you promise?”

Kanan smiled softly down at her and nodded once. “I promise to do my best. I can’t guarantee it will be easy for me, but I’ll try.”

Hera nodded, somewhat satisfied. She settled back down against his chest and they lay like that until they slipped into peaceful slumber.


End file.
